Campbell High names football coach

Campbell High of Litchfield assistant athletics director Dawn Miller announced Friday that Greg Gush will be the school’s head football coach.

Gush replaces Marc Prindiville, who led the team through its first six seasons. Gush has been coaching in the Hudson-Litchfield Bears youth program for the past nine years.

“I’m incredibly humbled to have this opportunity with this great program,” Gush said. “The coaches that have been there have done a great job starting a team from scratch.”

Originally from Pennsylvania, the 48-year-old Gush has lived in New Hampshire since 1995, coaching football, baseball, basketball and soccer in the area.

With the Hudson-Litchfield youth football organization, Gush worked with kids from grades three to eight, and some of them will be on his Cougars team in the fall.

“Most of the sophomore class are kids I coached, probably about a dozen,” Gush said. “Our youth program has been amazing. A lot of talented players have gone on to play at Campbell.”

Gush will be introduced to the team Monday at 6 p.m. in the Campbell gym prior to the first summer weight training session. Gush said training and conditioning will be major points of emphasis for him.

“Our football team is going to be in good shape,” he said. “We’re going to win a lot of football games in the fourth quarter because of that.”

Gush served in the Air Force and played high school football at North Pocono High in Moscow, Pa., under Nick Donato. Gush said that he will lean on Donato, who now coaches at Scranton (Pa.) Prep, for advice.

Campbell athletics director John Patterson, himself a longtime football coach, will also be someone Gush said he will rely on for counsel.

The Cougars will return one of the top running backs in the state from last season in senior Jesiah Wade. Gush said he will look for balance on offense and the defensive emphasis will be on all 11 players being accountable as individuals to make the whole of the defense stronger.

Gush said he hopes to be a mentor for his players in football and in life.

“I’m going to do my best to be a consistent force in their life,” he said. “There are things you learn on the football field that you can’t learn anywhere else.”